Investigation of Plasma Deposition and Etching Mechanisms for Silicon-based Materials

该奖项授予科罗拉多州立大学，以支持化学部先进材料计划和材料研究部电子材料计划对Ellen R.Fisher教授的研究。这项研究的重点将是对硅基材料的等离子体沉积和刻蚀机理的基础研究，主要通过自由基与表面相互作用(IRIS)的成像来测量。这项研究的目标是(1)了解自由基与表面之间的相互作用，(2)表征等离子体产生的自由基的能量学，(3)探索卤素等离子体中刻蚀和沉积之间的平衡，以及(4)发展脉冲等离子体系统的时间分辨实验。工作内容包括测量半导体材料沉积和刻蚀过程中等离子体物种的表面反应性，确定不同等离子体条件下自由基的速度分布以及自由基从表面散射的速度分布，检查分子束源的调制效果，并通过独立的表面分析来表征等离子体处理基片的材料性质。所研究的等离子体种类包括甲基和亚甲基、烷氧基、羟基、卤素、氢硅基、硅基和卤硅基，所有这些都是在硅和二氧化硅衬底上进行的。等离子体沉积和蚀刻工艺在微电子工业中被广泛用于加工硅基材料。这项研究将促进对半导体表面化学过程的分子水平的理解，并可能在栅氧化物、钝化层、集成电路介质、太阳能电池、平板显示器和光接收器中找到应用。此外，该研究的高度跨学科性质将为学生在微电子行业的职业生涯提供出色的培训。

This award is made to Colorado State University in support of the reseach of Prof. Ellen R. Fisher by the Advanced Materials Program in the Chemistry Division and the Electronic Materials Program in the Division of Materials Research. The focus of the research will be a fundamental study of plasma deposition and etching mechanisms for silicon-based materials as measured mainly by the imaging of radicals interacting with surfaces (IRIS). The objectives of the research are to (1) understand interactions between radicals and surfaces, (2) characterize the energetics of plasma-generated radicals, (3) explore the balance between etching and deposition in halogen-based plasmas, and (4) develop temporally-resolved experiments for pulsed plasma systems.Work elements include measuring the surface reactivity of plasma species during deposition and etching of semiconductor materials, determining the velocity distributions of radicals under different plasma conditions as well as for radicals scattering from surfaces, examining the effect of modulating the molecular beam source and characterizing the materials properties of plasma processed substrates through independent surface analysis. Plasma species studied will be methyl and methylene, alkoxy, hydroxy, halogen, hydrosilyl, silyl and halosilyl, all on silicon and silicon dioxide substrates.Plasma deposition and etching processes are widely employed in the microelectronics industry for processing silicon-based materials. This research will advance the molecular level understanding of the chemical processes which occur on semiconductor surfaces and are likely to find applications in gate oxides, passivation layers, dielectrics for integrated circuits, solar cells, flat panel displays and photoreceptors. Additionally, the highly interdisciplinary nature of the research will provide students with excellent training for careers in the microelectronics industry.